Highland Games at Gordon Castle

I attended Gordon Castle on Sunday 22 May - the first Highland Games since the 1930's. I was very impressed with the attendance and really pleased the new event received local support. It was a gamble for Gordon Castle to re-start such an event after 75 years, but they pulled it off. The location is stunning too.

I was there as part of the Speyside Artisans (above), seven of us pitched up to enjoy the day. The weather held up for most of the day, but the wind was too much for all the gazebos and they started taking off. And as a result, we all had to pack away early, as the gazebos were starting to break.

This is the new Speyside Artisans outdoor banner (above) - what do you think?

No Highland Games are complete without a Pipe Band - this is Dufftown & District. They looked and sounded fantastic.

Perhaps the Castle will entertain the idea of hiring a large marquee, so we can have an indoor pitch. The industrial marquees are able to take the weather, better than our little ones!

Kathryn, Lazy Daisy Glass xx

Green Fingers - Grow Your Own - Part I

It was a beautiful summery morning - one day last month we were out in the garden at 8am to start work on planting and setting up our mini greenhouse. Our daughter was so enthusiastic, here she is helping to fill the containers with compost:

We bought little grow your own kits - adding water to the plugs, sowing the seeds, and also plated our own seeds from packets, then we watched them turn in to these:

It took us a couple of hours, enjoying the sunshine, to get all the planting done, but we now have a full greenhouse:

I'm glad to say, our daughter's enthusiasm still exists and waters the plants regularly. She still gets excited each week and regularly investigates their growth.

We are growing tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, carrots, pumpkins, peppers, lettuces and sunflowers. At least we will all enjoy eating our own fruit and veg this summer.

Part II coming shortly - how are the plants doing??

Kathryn, Lazy Daisy Glass xx

Launch of Highland Key

I recently attended the launch of Highland Key - an online gateway to the Scottish Highlands, offering discount cards to visitors (or locals). The business trade event took place at Achnagairn House in Kirkhill, a beautifully stunning private house venue. The House has 24 bedrooms, all individually themed, a spectacular ballroom, all in a stunningly secluded location. A great venue for weddings!

I was also asked to make some corporate plates for the canapes. The Highland Key logo incorporates the Scottish thistle, and these were then designed in to the plates - green, purple and pink (see above).

Spud the Piper welcomed everyone to the event.

My daughter loved these cupcakes, courtesy of Cupcake Creations in Inverness - she hand paints the individual logos on to each cake, very clever! They are the most tastiest of cakes and always look beautiful and so many people comment on how wonderful they taste.

The main presentation took place in the Ballroom - a stunning room with vaulted ceiling and huge stone fireplace. The chairs were also decorated, courtesy of Dress the Day, again incorporating Highland Key colours.

The Event Manager gave us a personal tour of some of the bedrooms in the house, but will leave that for another blog post as they were stunning, especially the Honeymoon Suite.

Kathryn, Lazy Daisy Glass xx